Virtue of the Month for November is Charity

The virtue of the month for Challenge and Conquest in November is charity. Charity is Christian love, seeing people as God does and treating them with the love and respect they need. A true Christian should always be attentive to the opportunities that arise to bring others to God. Charity is like a ripple or wave that gains momentum.

The two terms “love” and “charity” are frequently used interchangeably, and with good reason, since the virtue of charity is in fact a kind of love. However, the two are not identical; not all forms of love are also charity. Quite simply, charity is the Love of God, in which we are able to participate. When you think of people who were amazing examples of charity – Mother Teresa come to mind as great examples of charity in action. In the gospel we see Jesus’s example of charity by feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and so on. Mother Teresa literally dedicated her life doing the same things. It helps us in our own lives to see the example of other people like Mother Teresa practicing charity. It makes it more real and tangible for us, not a lovely theoretical idea. In 2000, Gallup polls asked Americans which person they most admired from the last 100 years. Mother Teresa came out on top, and it wasn’t even close – 49 percent named her, with the next closest being Martin Luther King Jr. at 34 percent. Admiration leads to imitation. That is why her charity and our charity can make an impact on lives.

Pope Francis’ Five Finger Prayer can be found on the back of the Challenge holy card this month. It is a beautiful reminder that the first way to show you love others is to pray for them. Prayer is a form of charity.

The Youcat number of the month is all about charity. #309 What is charity? Charity is the power by which we, who have been loved first by God, can give ourselves to God so as to be united with him and can accept our neighbor for God’s sake as unconditionally and sincerely as we accept ourselves Jesus places love above all laws, without however abolishing the latter. Therefore St. Augustine rightly says, “Love, and do what you will.” Which is not at all as easy as it sounds. That is why charity, love, is the greatest virtue, the energy that inspires all the other virtues and fills them with divine life